Know You
by Katkee
Summary: "Don't I know you, mister?" Sweeney realizes he does recognize her and is soon happily reunited with his family. Mrs Lovett, however, isn't quite so happy. It's her turn to try her hand at revenge… Rated T because, come on, it's Sweeney Todd. Mild language and probably murder.
1. Don't I Know You?

Disclaimer: Disclaimed.

Notes: Full of lyrics and references to the musical and the String of Pearls! I attempted to stay as in character as possible. Sorry, I didn't write the accents (like Mrs. Lovett's 'ave's and whatnot).

* * *

"Don't I know you, mister?"

Sweeney Todd paused for a moment as the old beggar woman looked up at him. He was in a hurry, but those eyes…those eyes looked familiar. And the hair…yellow as wheat…

He gasped. "Lucy?" His voice was nearly a whisper.

The woman hesitated, eyes roving, as though attempting to remember something from many years past.

"Benjamin?" she finally said. "Benjamin!"

A million thoughts ran through Sweeney's head, starting with "She's alive," moving to, "Mrs Lovett lied to me," and ending with, "The judge!"

As if responding to his thought, he heard Judge Turpin call from below. "Mr Todd?"

"Quick, hide in here," Sweeney said, guiding Lucy to the trunk. He threw open the lid.

A small, thin face under a blue cap looked up at him.

_Why is there a boy hiding in my trunk…?_

The eyes, for the second time, made him pause. He glanced at Lucy. The boy's eyes – no, the _girl's _eyes – matched exactly.

"Johanna?" he gasped. This was all too much to deal with. And the judge was coming up the stairs.

"Out," he ordered Johanna, gesturing for her to leave the trunk. She complied, eyes wide. "Both of you, stay here, no matter what. Stay until my return."

He had said it all quickly, but he felt certain they understood. Then Sweeney rushed out of the shop, meeting the judge halfway down the stairs.

"Where is she? Where is the girl?" he demanded.

"Down below, your honor," Sweeney said soothingly. "In the bakehouse. The young sailor was worried you would come and said she would be safest down there. Thank heavens he did not molest her." As he spoke, Sweeney guided the judge down to the first floor of the shop.

They entered the bakehouse. Judge Turpin seemed frantic, wanting to reclaim Johanna.

"Where is she?"

"With her mother," Sweeney said, his open razor held behind his back. "Where she belongs."

The judge spun around, staring at Sweeney. "What was that?"

"No doubt the years have changed me, sir," Sweeney replied calmly, admiring his razor in the faint light from the oven. "But then, I suppose the face of a barber – the face of a prisoner in the dock – is not particularly memorable."

He stepped toward the judge, who automatically took a step back, now against the wall.

"Benjamin Barker!" Judge Turpin said, shocked.

"BENJAMIN BARKER!" Sweeney shouted.

With that, he slit the judge's throat, avoiding the spray of blood that shot out. It wouldn't do to be covered in blood when he went back to Lucy and Johanna.

The judge lay dead at Sweeney's feet by the time Mrs Lovett came out of the shadows, where she had watched the conversation.

"What do you suppose judge tastes like?" she asked.

Sweeney spun to face her. She had to pay for her lies.

"Mrs Lovett, you're a bloody wonder," he growled.

"What're you talking about, Mr T?" she asked, startled by his tone.

"You knew, from the moment I first walked into your shop, you knew my Lucy lived." He took a step toward her. She backed away like the judge had done.

"I was only thinking of you," she said hurriedly as Sweeney approached.

"You lied to me."

"No, no, not lied at all. No, I never lied. Said she took the poison, she did, never said that she died. Poor thing. She lived but it made her weak in the head, all she did for months was just lie there in bed. Should've been in hospital, wound up in Bedlam instead. Poor thing. Better you should think she was dead," against the wall now, Mrs Lovett became desperate, "yes, I lied 'cause I love you, I'd be twice the wife she was, I love you!"

Sweeney, only a foot away from her, pressed his razor, still covered in the judge's blood, to her throat. "What's that you like to say, _love_? Life is for the alive?" His voice was no louder than a breath. "I believe you're about to join the dead."

Mrs Lovett could say nothing. She stared at Sweeney, eyes wide.

He slowly lowered the razor. After all, it wasn't like he had killed Lucy on accident. "Find Toby. Make sure he won't go to the law. Burn the bodies. And _never_ lie to me again."

Mrs Lovett let out a slow breath of relief as Sweeney spun and headed up the stairs. She jumped as she heard the door slam shut and the latch click.

Toby ran to her from who-knows-where in the bakehouse. "Mum, what's going on? Why were you helping Mr Todd? Did he try to kill you?"

Mrs Lovett hugged him and stared at the door at the top of the stairs, hoping it would open again.

* * *

Sweeney Todd all but ran up the stairs to his shop. Anthony had arrived. He and Johanna held each other tightly. Lucy seemed to still hold some traces of madness as she murmured to herself, but Sweeney was sure she could recover.

He opened the door slowly. Anthony glanced up. "Mr Todd!"

"Not Todd," Sweeney said. "It's Barker. Benjamin Barker."

Anthony blinked in confusion. At the sound of the name, Lucy looked up and ran to Sweeney – Benjamin, now.

Benjamin Barker hugged his wife to him. "Anthony, Johanna, I'd like you to meet my wife, Lucy."

"Oh, sir," Lucy said.

"Sir?" Anthony asked, sounding even more confused.

Johanna didn't know what to say.

Benjamin laughed – the first time in over fifteen years – and gestured for them all to sit. There was no furniture in the room other than the barber chair, but Benjamin pulled the trunk over next to it. Anthony and Johanna sat down on it. Benjamin guided Lucy to the chair and they sat.

"There was a barber and his wife," he started. "And she was beautiful…"

"You told me this story," Anthony realized. "The barber was you, wasn't he?"

"And Lucy my wife," he agreed.

"What is going on?" Johanna asked, now frustrated.

Benjamin continued. "A foolish barber and his wife. She was his reason and his life, and she was beautiful, and she was virtuous, and he was naïve. There was another man who saw that she was beautiful – a pious vulture of the law, who, with a gesture of his claw, removed the barber from his plate. Then there was nothing but to wait-"

Lucy joined in, singing softly, as though remembering the words to an old song. "And she would fall, so soft, so young, so lost, and oh, so beautiful."

"And Benjamin Barker went to prison, Lucy Barker to Bedlam, and their daughter…" Benjamin trailed off, gazing at Johanna.

"Me?" she asked in a whisper.

"He adopted you, like his own," he said. "And you are beautiful and pale with yellow hair, like your mother."

Anthony couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So, all this time, Johanna singing in the window, and she was your daughter?"

"Johanna Barker," Johanna murmured. "No, Hope. Johanna Barker, soon to be Hope." She smiled at Anthony, who grinned back.

"Ah, miss," he said. "Kiss me."

"Oh, sir…"

Benjamin and Lucy turned to face each other as the young couple kissed.

"Lucy," he said urgently, gripping her hands. "Are you all right?"

"There is evil here, Benjamin," she said. "She's the devil's wife."

"I know," he replied. "I know, but now you're here. She won't bother you again. The evil is no more. What do you remember of me, of our life together?"

"I remember…" she said. "I remember dancing into the night, I remember the way you laugh, I remember…" She shuddered suddenly, and Benjamin pulled her in close.

"But we are together again," he said. "At last, my family is complete again."

* * *

Note: I'll update whenever I finish a chapter, which, depending on how my writing is going, could be anywhere from a day to a week, but hopefully no longer than a fortnight (two weeks). I have no idea what's going to happen beyond the next couple pages, so no idea how long it'll be. Hope you enjoy!


	2. Come Home Again

Anthony looked up suddenly. "Mr Todd – no, Mr Barker – since you are Johanna's father, may I ask her hand in marriage?"

"Yes, of course," Benjamin replied, smiling at the couple.

"The coach is here, Johanna," Anthony said. "We must go."

Johanna looked from Benjamin to Lucy, eyes glinting with tears. "After all this time, it's wonderful to have a family."

"I know just the feeling," Benjamin murmured, his eyes also shining.

Anthony stood and helped Johanna to her feet. They walked to the door, but Johanna paused and looked back. "I will write to you…Father."

"And I as well," Anthony said.

"Goodbye," Benjamin said.

"Goodbye," Lucy repeated.

As they walked out, Anthony murmured to Johanna, "We'll sail the world and see its wonders, from the pearls of Spain to the rubies of Tibet…"

"And then come home to London someday," Johanna finished.

* * *

Down in the bakehouse, Toby still wanted answers from Mrs Lovett. He had helped her burn the rest of the bodies when she asked, but he was persistent.

"Why did you do it, mum?" he asked. "Why were there bodies in here? Are they really…" He gulped. "In the pies?"

Mrs Lovett didn't want to tell him the truth, but the poor boy probably deserved it at this point. After all, he had been right to suspect Mr T, even though she had tried to appease the boy.

"Yes, dear," she finally sighed, mind whirling to come up with an appropriate explanation.

"I bet Mr Todd made you help him. I'll kill him if you want me to. I'll kill him!" Toby started to run toward the door of the bakehouse.

"Toby, sit down," Mrs Lovett said, pulling him back. She sat down against the wall and he crouched next to her. "Mr Todd didn't force me to help him."

"Then why did you do it, mum?"

Toby's expression was the worst thing Mrs Lovett had ever seen, and she dealt with dead bodies every day. His eyes, full of betrayal, glistened with tears.

"You'll understand when you're older, dear," she said for lack of a better response. "You're not going to kill anyone."

_Although I would have said the same about Benjamin Barker all those years ago,_ she mused.

"Then I'll go to the law, I'll tell them about what he's doing!"

"No, dear," she said quickly. "Then I'll go to prison, too, and likely be hung."

"I'll tell them he made you do it," Toby said, still determined.

"Toby, listen to me. Don't go to the law. There will be no more dead bodies now, anyway," she said and muttered, "Not now that he's back with his darling Lucy."

"All right, mum, for you."

"That's a good boy," Mrs Lovett said, relieved.

"Let's go," he said, jumping up and heading for the door.

Mrs Lovett watched him as he went to try the door, fearful that it would be locked. She wouldn't put it past dear Mr T to have left it locked, and she didn't really want to know whether or not it was.

If the door was sealed, so was her doom.

Toby pulled the handle, paused for a moment, then yanked on it repeatedly.

"It's locked, mum," he said.

Mrs Lovett let out a long breath. Lucy might have been married to Benjamin Barker, but Sweeney Todd was a different person. Mrs Lovett knew Sweeney better than anyone else did, and she doubted that he would come back. He hadn't killed her when he had the chance, but locked here in the bakehouse, she didn't think he would return.

It was all the fault of that damn girl, Lucy. If she had just died from the poison in the first place, none of this would have happened. As she was thereafter doomed to fifteen years on the streets, perhaps it would have been kinder, too.

Mrs Lovett started to pace, noting in the back of her mind that she was starting to seem a bit like Sweeney Todd.

_And maybe,_ she reflected, _that isn't such a bad thing._

"To seek revenge may lead to hell," she murmured to herself, too quietly for Toby to hear, "but everyone does it, if seldom as well as Sweeney…"

* * *

Lucy seemed to be stuck in the past, singing quietly to herself and dancing about the room. "And why should you weep, then, my jo, my jing? Your father's at tea with the Swedish king, he'll bring you the moon on a silver string… quickly to sleep, then, my jo, my jing, he'll bring you a shoe and a wedding ring. He'll be coming here again, home again, come again spring, he'll be coming soon now to kiss you my jo, my jing, bringing you the moon and a shoe and a wedding ring…"

Benjamin realized that this must be what she sung to Johanna after he was sent away.

"And he's come home again, Lucy," he said quietly. She stopped and looked at him, smiling anew as though she hadn't seen him before. It was hard for Benjamin to see her like this, but she was already had more of her senses than when he had first seen her at the dock. He had seen her then, hadn't he?

Benjamin blinked a couple of times, conflicting memories flooding his head. Was that a madhouse he remembered? He had been to prison, but never a madhouse… Was Toby there too?

He blinked again and his head cleared. Lucy would get better in time. He knew he could make it happen. Benjamin – or Sweeney Todd, at least – had a way of getting people to do whatever he wanted them to do.

"Lucy, we can be happy again," he said.

"Happy…" she said, considering the idea. "Benjamin, you're home, you're home, and my Johanna all grown up…"

"And Judge Turpin will never come again," Benjamin assured her. "I'll never leave you again."

Lucy's eyes sparkled as she smiled, and even though she was dressed in rags, Benjamin saw the beauty that he had fallen in love with so long ago.

She was still beautiful, still virtuous, and still his reason and his life.

But Benjamin Barker wasn't quite so naïve anymore. He knew the terrible things the world was capable of, had lived them for fifteen long, dreadful years.

Now, he thought about all that Sweeney Todd had been, and shook his head. Yes, everyone deserved to die, and death would be a relief. But for a while, he had been part of the terrible things in the world. The demon barber of Fleet Street, he considered.

No longer.

There would be no more killing.

Mrs Lovett might have to resort to popping pussies into pies after all.

Thinking of Mrs Lovett reminded him. She and Toby were still locked down in the bakehouse.

Did she deserve to die for what she had done to him? Lied for months, told him Lucy was dead.

But, after all, finding that she was alive had been the happiest moment of his life. That wouldn't have happened if she had told him the truth.

He thought. Sweeney Todd would have killed her without a second thought. But that man was dead now, the way he'd assumed Benjamin Barker to be, or at least weaker. Benjamin had risen from the grave, and he was not a murderer.

Mrs Lovett had done a lot for him, taking him in, going along with his murders, suggesting that they _bake people into pies_, even.

She did not deserve to die.

_But she lied to me, and I almost killed my own wife because of her._

He sighed heavily. Being two people, almost polar opposites of each other, was exhausting.

The facts were plain.

If Sweeney Todd were stronger than Benjamin Barker, Mrs Lovett would die.

If Benjamin Barker were stronger than Sweeney Todd, Mrs Lovett would live.

He sighed again, and went downstairs to unlock the bakehouse door.


	3. That Man is Dead

Lucy Barker was trying.

She remembered Benjamin, of course, how could she forget her dear Ben?

She remembered Johanna, the sweet little angel who she watched grow up throughout long years.

She remembered the terrible things that had happened to their family because of the judge.

But remembering could be hard. It wasn't always a good thing. She wasn't living totally in the present. Memories were all she had had for years and years. The happy ones that helped her escape from her troubled life.

The awful, horrifying ones that plagued her at night, in every dream.

Lucy knew more than anyone. The trouble was that no one would listen to her.

The boy, the sailor boy listened. At least when she was talking about Johanna.

But nobody listened when she tried to warn them about the pie shop. There was evil there, that she knew.

Beware of her, she tried to warn. She with no pity in her heart.

But her Benjamin had come home again, and he said that she would never trouble anyone again.

Her Benjamin had come home again, and so she was trying.

Trying to remember.

Trying to stay in the present.

But it was hard.

* * *

Mrs Lovett didn't know how long it had been. Now she understood how Mr Todd could forget to eat, forget to sleep, neglect everything unless she interrupted him.

Pacing back and forth, back and forth, it was hard to keep track of time.

She suspected it hadn't been long, though. Toby was still sitting against the wall, watching her.

She wondered what he was thinking about. From the way his eyes followed her, he was likely wondering if she was all right.

She wondered that herself.

Mrs Lovett was thinking about revenge. Not something she had done before, but it was easier than she had thought it would be.

Sweeney's words kept repeating in her mind.

_They all deserve to die. Tell you why, Mrs Lovett, tell you why. Because in all of the whole human race, Mrs Lovett, there are two kinds of men and only two. There's the one staying put in his proper place and the one with his foot in the other one's face…_

Mrs Lovett was tired of staying put in her proper place, especially because it was that annoying Lucy Barker who had her foot in her face. Not that the innocent girl had ever known that, ever meant to, and that was what made it doubly irritating.

It was time to change that.

_No, we all deserve to die._

Sweeney Todd had his Judge Turpin, and he got his revenge.

Nellie Lovett had her Lucy Barker.

Revenge might lead to hell, but she was headed there anyway.

She would plan. That was half the fun, and revenge can't be taken in haste.

She would wait.

* * *

Back and forth, back and forth.

Mrs Lovett kept walking. It was starting to worry Toby. It wasn't like her to pace. That was what Mr Todd did.

And he had been right about Mr Todd, hadn't he?

Toby wanted to kill him, but he wouldn't. Mrs Lovett fancied him, after all, and that would only break her heart.

The bakehouse door flew open.

_Speak of the devil…_

Thinking that, Toby almost laughed out loud despite his anger, for Mr Todd was closer to the devil than anyone else he had ever known. Even Signor Pirelli wasn't that bad compared to Mr Todd.

Mr Todd looked different. Toby couldn't tell how, exactly. Something about his face looked different, though. Younger, almost.

Happy, that was it. Mr Todd was happy, even though he wasn't smiling at the moment. That was odd.

Mrs Lovett whirled to face the door. "Mr T! I didn't think you would come back, Mr Todd."

"Not Todd," he said. "Call me Barker, Benjamin Barker."

Toby thought the change of name was also odd, but he didn't question it. He was too upset.

"Mr Todd, or Barker, I don't care, you had better never hurt Mrs Lovett again," Toby said, standing and glaring at him.

He supposed he must look a bit ridiculous, and briefly considered what would happen if Mr Barker did try to hurt Mrs Lovett. Toby was half his size. But he didn't care, he would stop him somehow.

Mr Barker regarded him with a steady, unreadable gaze.

Toby stood as tall as he could, determined. Benjamin Barker or Sweeney Todd, he would never hurt her again. He would die first.

Finally, Mr Barker nodded slowly. "All right, Toby. I have no reason to anymore, anyway. Unless Mrs Lovett has been lying to me about anything else…"

"I never lied," Mrs Lovett protested.

"Lies by omission," Mr Barker countered, eyes flashing with hatred for a moment. Toby watched warily. He knew how murderous Sweeney Todd could get, especially now that he knew it was literal.

But after a moment, Mr Barker shook his head. "So long as it doesn't happen again. Come on." He stepped out of the doorway. "Let's go up."

Toby turned to watch Mrs Lovett, who glanced once more about the bakehouse and headed for the stairs.

* * *

Getting out of London wasn't quite so easy as it might seem, especially because Johanna's hair kept falling out of her hat. Frustrated, she replaced it every time, Anthony sometimes assisting her to get it all hidden.

There seemed to be a lot of police around, and Johanna jumped every time one went by on the street. None took notice of the pair of boys, unless it was to glance at them and wonder aloud why they were out so late.

Every time someone passed by, Johanna half expected it to be the Beadle, or worse, Judge Turpin himself. She jumped at every small sound.

"Wasn't that a noise, you must have heard it!" she whispered sharply to Anthony.

"Don't worry, Johanna," Anthony replied, his voice steady enough to slightly calm Johanna's frantically beating heart. "We're almost to the docks."

She focused on just breathing, in and out, in and out, for a moment. It helped her nerves a bit, and she was able to ignore some of the noises that sounded around her.

"Where are we going?" she asked Anthony quietly. "Where are we sailing first?"

"We'll go to Paris first and get married. And soon, I think we shall go to India, for I have heard a rumor from my friend Mark, also a sailor, that there are great riches to be found there. He went there and returned with pearls for his beloved. Strange, though, I haven't seen him in a while…"

"It doesn't matter where we go," Johanna said, encouraged once again by the realization that she was free from the Judge forever. "As long as we are together."

They ran through the streets of London, then, and finally arrived at the docks. Anthony led her to his ship.

"It's beautiful," she said, gazing with awe up at the glorious ship. She had never actually seen a ship before and the sight was stunning.

They boarded and, soon, the _Bountiful_ was sailing off into the night, toward a new life for both of them.

* * *

The four of them met in Mrs Lovett's pie shop. Benjamin, Lucy, Mrs Lovett, and Toby.

The four of them were all there, but Benjamin knew it was really going to be a conversation between him and Mrs Lovett.

She seemed different, he noted. Something had changed while she was down there in the bakehouse, something that was probably due to the return of Lucy.

No, he realized, due to the return of Benjamin Barker. Or perhaps both.

She was different, at any rate, but then, so were all the rest of them.

The first one to speak was Mrs Lovett. "So are you staying here, then?" Her manner was brusque, more businesslike than she had ever been with Benjamin before.

"I don't know," he responded. "You technically own this place. And with Lucy here, I don't know if…" He trailed off, not sure how to continue the sentence.

It was obvious that Toby hoped Benjamin would leave. His expression and stance clearly showed that he still didn't trust Benjamin.

Lucy didn't seem comfortable in the pie shop. Her eyes roved over the room, always returning to stare distrustfully at Mrs Lovett for a few moments before wandering away again. Benjamin wasn't sure if she _could_ stay, in her condition.

Mrs Lovett simply raised her eyebrows and looked over Lucy, then back to Benjamin. "You can stay if you want," she said, her voice more like he was used to. "Although now I doubt I'll ever get my house by the sea." A ghost of a smile played across her face.

For a moment Benjamin's other personality took over and he stared coldly at her. She would never have gotten a house by the sea – not with Sweeney Todd, anyway.

He breathed deeply, trying to push Todd-like thoughts away. Benjamin knew he would have to work on that. A split personality would not help him when all of his relationships were already so messed up.

He smiled suddenly. "Do you think you'll be able to find another source of meat for your pies?"

Mrs Lovett let out an almost hysterical giggle. "I've got enough money now to buy some real meat, at least for a while. If I ever run out, I could always ask Mrs Mooney for advice."

"Live here again," Lucy suddenly said. "Will we?"

Startled, everyone in the room turned toward her.

"Yes," Benjamin said. "Yes, because I can't imagine living anywhere other than Fleet Street. Thank you, Mrs Lovett, for allowing us to live here still."

She nodded absentmindedly. "I suppose we'll have a lot of work to do before opening time tomorrow. I need to find some meat, and with the price what it is, I should raise my prices."

She looked at Lucy, and Benjamin tried to read her expression. It seemed familiar somehow, but he doubted he had actually seen her with that look before.

After a moment, she spun and went into the parlor. Toby followed her loyally, giving Benjamin a distrustful glance over his shoulder.

"Evil is here…" Lucy murmured.

"Not anymore," Benjamin told her. "Sweeney Todd is gone, along with the judge and Beadle. No more evil, my love."


	4. The Life I Covet

_My love?_

Mrs Lovett understood, of course, that Benjamin Barker was never hers, before his arrest or after. But there were times when Sweeney Todd seemed like he could be.

When he danced with her after she suggested what to do with the dead bodies.

When they went out on a picnic, and he almost agreed to go live by the sea.

When she asked him if he remembered Lucy, and Anthony interrupted before he replied.

She remembered every time he called her 'my pet,' 'my sweet,' 'my dear,' or, most especially, 'my love.'

And now he was calling Lucy that, like he had all those years ago.

_My love?_

Oh, how she wished Lucy really had died.

Well, if there was one thing she had learned from Sweeney Todd, it was that wishes could come true.

* * *

Benjamin wished for another wall.

Before he had been sent away, he had lived up here with Lucy and had his barber shop downstairs. The room was easily big enough to split into two and use on room to live in and one for the customers, but he needed another wall, or at least a curtain.

It wasn't the biggest problem he had had, but it was an issue. At least a curtain would be simple to put up.

The sun outside was rising, sending glimmers of light through the large window. Soon, shops would open up and Benjamin could get the supplies he needed to divide the room. And other things, like new dresses for Lucy. He glanced at her, sitting calmly in the barber chair. Yes, she needed new clothes. And the chair's mechanism would have to be disabled at some point. He could too easily envision her sitting there and accidentally pushing the lever.

It would be better for Lucy to stay downstairs with Mrs Lovett while he went to buy supplies. She would be all right for a few hours without him.

That decided, he took Lucy downstairs. Mrs Lovett was already getting ready for the shop to open.

"Mrs Lovett, I have a favor to ask."

She looked up.

"Would you watch Lucy for a couple of hours and make sure she doesn't try anything that might get her into trouble?"

"All right," she agreed.

Benjamin smiled at her. "Thank you."

He left the shop, only wondering when he was a few blocks away if Lucy would be safe with Mrs Lovett.

After all, he had trusted her before, and look what had happened.

"Do you want a meat pie?" Mrs Lovett asked Mrs Barker. She had already offered Toby one. After she had assured him she had gotten some none-human meat, he accepted. Now he was eating and watching Mrs Barker, who nodded at Mrs Lovett's offer.

Toby wondered about the woman. Just a few weeks ago, she had seemed mad behind any hope of recovery as she grabbed him and nearly shouted, "Smell it, sir, an evil smell, every night at the Vesper's bell, smoke that come from the mouth of hell, city on fire!"

Although, now that he thought about it, she had actually turned out to be right, something he still didn't want to think about. Especially while he was eating a meat pie – one that Mrs Lovett never actually had time to get new meat for…

He put down the pie and watched Mrs Barker, almost considering telling her about what was in the pies. But he decided against it. From the little he had heard of Mr Todd's story, she had been through enough hard times already. Bad news wouldn't help her a bit.

Toby wondered what the future would look like, something he had often done throughout his life. When he was in the workhouse, most of his nights were spent thinking of that, because no one would want to sleep in that place. When he was with Signor Pirelli, he often wondered if he would ever leave the Italian barber and find something better. Lately, he hadn't needed to picture the future. His life was happy.

But then he started wondering about Sweeney Todd, and everything just got worse from there.

And now? Mr Barker and Mrs Lovett's relationship was different now. He suspected something bad would happen very soon, but had no idea what it could be. And Mrs Barker was another variable in the equation. She was half mad.

Yes, something bad would happen. But Toby didn't know what to expect.

Mrs Lovett brought Mrs Barker a meat pie, and she dug in like she hadn't eaten for a week. Which was entirely possible. Sometimes, in the workhouse, Toby and the other boys would go without food for days.

"Toby!" Mrs Lovett called. She held out a purse. It wasn't Signor Pirelli's, but Toby still stared at it, wondering what poor dead person that came from. "Go down to St. Dunstan's Market and get some good meat."

"Yes, mum," he said immediately, taking the purse from her hand. As he was leaving the shop, Mrs Barker suddenly gave a shout. Toby spun and watched as she lurched unsteadily to her feet, took a couple of steps toward the door, and then collapsed to the ground.

Toby gasped and rushed over to her. "Mrs Barker, are you all right?"

She gave no response as he crouched beside her. Gently, he shook her shoulder. She was unconscious, insensible, and Mr Barker was away. At least she was still breathing, for now.

Toby was right. Something bad had just happened.

And Mrs Lovett didn't look too surprised.

* * *

It had been a while since Mrs Lovett had purchased the arsenic. It was when Lucy was hanging around the shop, trying to push her way in. Just in case. One of her customers could have taken pity on her and bought her a meat pie, and it wouldn't do for Mr Todd to come downstairs and see his wife eating a pie.

It was just in case.

She had been amazed when Mr Barker asked her to take care of Lucy, like he had forgiven her for lying to him. Sweeney Todd's motto had been 'Never forget, never forgive.'

But she supposed Benjamin Barker was a different man.

Anyway, it had really been that simple. Poison in the pie, and Benjamin Barker has a dead wife. Again. She had even remembered to use more than Lucy had before, so that way it would actually kill her this time.

At least, she thought she had used the right amount. But Toby was crouching beside her and looked merely worried. It wasn't like his reaction to the dead bodies in the bakehouse.

Yes, even as she watched, she saw Lucy's chest rise and fall the slightest bit.

Damn! The apothecary had assured her that it would be enough to kill a person. But the apothecary had promised that before.

Mrs Lovett didn't want to try to polish her off now. Not with Toby watching. If only he had left a moment earlier! The death would be written off as food poisoning, and that would have been the end of it. Dear Mr Barker would have gotten over it eventually and wanted to start a new life.

Once again, her dreams evaporated like the early morning mist.

Toby was watching her now, eyes wide. "Mum, what happened?"

"I've seen this before, dear," she said, coming over to the body. She genuinely loved Toby. He was already on edge. No use letting him know her plans. "Food poisoning. We're lucky it didn't kill her."

She reached down and grabbed Lucy's arms, struggling to lift her. Toby helped her carry the girl into the parlor, where they laid her on a couch.

"Now, Toby, you do need to go get some meat for today. The customers'll be arriving soon," she told him.

"Yes, mum," he replied readily.

As he walked out, Mrs Lovett called, "And Toby, dear, if you see Mr Barker, tell him what happened."

He nodded and left the shop.

Hurriedly, Mrs Lovett grabbed the empty bottle of arsenic from where she had stashed it behind the counter and rushed down to the bakehouse.

After she tossed it in the oven and slammed the door shut, she let out a breath of relief. For a moment, she had imagined Mr Barker coming in and suspecting her of poisoning Lucy. If the evidence was gone, he wouldn't be suspicious.

* * *

Benjamin was heading home when he ran into Toby, who informed him in a breathless voice, "Mrs Barker had a pie and then she collapsed, Mrs Lovett says it's food poisoning."

Benjamin dropped everything he was holding, shocked by this knowledge. The boy ran off before he could further question him, but what he had already said was enough.

Lucy was in danger again.

Why couldn't Benjamin get a happy ending for once?

He picked up the things he had bought and rushed back to the shop.

"Where is she?" he asked, uncomfortably aware that he sounded like the judge had, frantically asking about Johanna.

Mrs Lovett hurried over to him. "Oh, sir, she's in the parlor. It was awful, I just gave her a pie and I didn't expect-"

"It's not your fault," he said offhandedly, already turning toward the parlor. He burst in and saw Lucy, draped across a couch. "Oh my god…"

In an instant, he was at her side. Perhaps his voice did her some good, because her eyelids fluttered. "Benjamin?"

The word was quiet, but she had still said it.

"I'm here," he assured her and kissed her forehead. "You'll recover, don't worry. I'll make sure you do." Benjamin really had no way of ensuring that, but, at least as Sweeney Todd, he got what he wanted.

He heard Mrs Lovett walk up, just behind him. "I'm so sorry, dear Lucy, had I known the meat was bad…"

_Probably grocer. Green can't be good,_ he thought, but was too upset to say it aloud. Lucy was near death. Another bite and she might have been gone forever. He had already believed she was dead for too long; it coming true would be too much to bear.

Would the fates ever favor him?

* * *

**A/N: Just FYI, I'm around 70% sure this won't be Sweenet. But I'm really only planning about two pages ahead, so who knows?**


	5. Took the Poison

_Not again, not again, not again._

Lucy hated arsenic. She knew it was arsenic again this time, but the thought was slippery, hard to hold on to. All her thoughts were like that now.

What had happened? The pie, the pie. She knew it. An evil smell came from that chimney, but she was hungry, so she said yes to the pie.

"Not again," she murmured. Benjamin was there, she could tell. Sort of. He asked her something that she couldn't hear.

She struggled. He had gone away to prison for her, for fifteen years, and never complained of it. She had to hear what he asked.

"What do you mean?" he repeated.

"Poison," Lucy managed to say.

_Death may actually be a relief at this point._

* * *

Poisoning. First the arsenic, and now this. Benjamin still couldn't quite believe it had happened. Food poisoning. Of all the things to tear his family apart again…

Lucy was drifting in and out of consciousness, occasionally coughing or muttering incomprehensible words.

Mrs Lovett was pacing around the room, which wasn't typical of her. She seemed tense, almost guilty, despite the fact that he had assured her that it wasn't her fault.

The door opened slightly and Toby poked his head in. Ignoring Benjamin, he said, "Mum, I got the meat."

"Thank you, dear," she replied, heading out of the room with him.

After a moment, Mrs Lovett opened the door again and peered in. "Mr Barker, I think you have a customer."

A customer. Benjamin couldn't imagine going back to work right now. But he didn't want to lose any customers, especially because the vast majority of those he have shaved once would never come again.

He stood up slowly from where he was kneeling by Lucy, hesitating.

Mrs Lovett understood what he was thinking. "She'll be all right. If she hasn't died from it yet, I'm sure she'll recover."

Benjamin tore his eyes away from Lucy. Mrs Lovett was probably right. And the work was waiting.

He headed up to his barber shop, where, indeed, a customer stood waiting.

It had been a while since he had actually shaved anyone. The last person was the one who had come in with his wife and daughter.

After he lathered the man's face, it was a struggle to resist cutting his throat. Sweeney Todd was too used to it. He could see the motions, imagine the blood that would spurt out.

But Benjamin pushed away the impulse and shaved him. Without singing, which wasn't quite as fun.

The man thanked him, gave him the money, and left. Benjamin felt oddly incomplete after he was gone, the same way he had as Sweeney Todd whenever a customer left alive.

Apparently he wasn't totally free of Sweeney Todd's influences. It scared Benjamin a little bit, the way he was still so attached to the murders he had indiscriminately committed for so long. He no longer had the need to be the demon barber, but the urge was still there.

He would have to be careful. Especially because now that Judge Turpin and the Beadle were dead, someone was bound to investigate. More unresolved disappearances that could be linked to his shop were not going to help him.

Benjamin tried to ignore the thought in the back of his mind as he went on with his day, shaving more customers and every so often checking on Lucy.

He tried to ignore it, but it was still there. The thought that someday soon, Sweeney Todd and Benjamin Barker would not be able to coexist.

One of them would be pushed away, cease to exist.

He tried to ignore it because he didn't know who would win.

And, though he denied it every time the thought came up, he didn't know who he _wanted_ to win.

* * *

Mrs Lovett's pies weren't quite as good as they were a few days ago.

Mr Thornhill came a few times a week to partake of Mrs Lovett's pies. They were the most delicious, wondrous things. But today the quality had gone down. He wondered what the difference was.

Mrs Lovett looked different too, more weary, or stressed, or something along those lines. She still smiled at him, like she smiled at everyone who came to purchase her pies, but something was a bit off. Her dark eyes also showed that she hadn't slept the previous night. Mr Thornhill hoped everything was all right.

He would have asked her, but whenever she looked at him, he found himself unable to speak. Were it not common knowledge that she fancied the barber upstairs, Mr Todd, he would be seeking to court her.

The pies weren't quite as good as they normally were, nor was Mrs Lovett as cheery as she normally was.

Something had changed, but it was impossible to tell what it could be.

As Mr Thornhill left the shop, he paused at the bottom of the stairs and decided to go up for a shave. He didn't know anyone who had actually gone to get shaved here, but the rumors were that Mr Todd was the best barber in London.

It couldn't hurt to get a shave, what some claimed was the closest shave you would ever know.

* * *

Mrs Lovett watched her customers carefully. They weren't constantly exclaiming how delicious the pies were, so obviously the pies weren't quite as good. But still, they appeared to be enjoying them, so it wasn't all bad. How awful it would have been if, on top of ruining her life and chance at future happiness, the return of the Barker family had ruined her business as well.

Toby was running about as usual, pouring ale or delivering pies. She was grateful for the boy; he certainly saved her from doing a lot of work.

In fact, he had things so well in hand that she could go and check on Lucy.

Mrs Lovett didn't know why she was going to see Lucy. It would do her no good, especially because she couldn't kill her now. Benjamin was not an idiot. She was surprised he actually believed her about the food poisoning alone. A sudden death would not go unnoticed.

Lucy was awake, though still laying down, when she walked in and seemed to actually possess her senses. "Mrs Lovett," she said.

"Lucy," Mrs Lovett replied, feigning a smile. "How are you doing? I'm so sorry, I didn't realize that the meat in the pie was bad."

"Was that it?" she murmured, more to herself than Mrs Lovett. "I thought…" Lucy shook her head and tried to smile. "Never mind."

Poor fool. She was so naïve still, even after she had experienced the horrors of the world. She would believe Mrs Lovett over her own mind.

"I think Benjamin got you some new clothes," Mrs Lovett said, noticing the rags she was still wearing. She glanced around. Yes, there they were, laid across the back of a chair where he had dropped them earlier.

"Oh, good," she said, sitting up. She quickly changed her mind and laid back down. "Maybe I'll stay here."

"Good idea," Mrs Lovett replied calmly, though she felt slightly irritated. It was hard to hate Lucy when she was like this, so weak and unsure of herself. She was quiet, reserved, and it was easy to see why Benjamin had fallen in love with her. "I suppose it'll be all right if you stay in that dress for now. I need to get back to my customers."

"Thank you for everything, Mrs Lovett," Lucy called before the parlor door closed.

That girl had a problem. She was too nice, at least when she was in her senses. Mrs Lovett shook her head in disbelief. No wonder she believed the Beadle when he told her the judge had repented.

As Mrs Lovett went through her day, she often thought about Lucy. Was it really worth it to take her revenge on such a poor, helpless thing?

_Yes. Yes, it is, _her mind informed her.

Well then. She would plan and try again soon, and hope that Benjamin never caught on.

Because it didn't matter if Lucy was dead. If she couldn't have Benjamin, she had nothing to live for anyway.


	6. Dwelling on the Past

When the lunch rush died down, Toby decided to check on Mrs Barker. The poor woman didn't deserve to have food poisoning.

He cautiously entered the parlor. Mr Barker was there, whispering to his wife and clutching her hand. When he saw Toby, he stood from his position kneeling by the couch and beckoned him over.

"It's good of you to visit, Toby," he said.

"How is she doing, sir?" Toby asked hesitantly as he approached.

At that, Mrs Barker struggled to sit up. "You, yes, I remember you," she murmured when she saw Toby.

"You should lay down, love," Mr Barker said, gently pressing on her shoulders so she would lie down again.

"No, no, I'm all right," Mrs Barker said, brushing away his hands. "I saw you, yes, a few weeks ago, but I don't know your name. I'm…" She paused, thinking, and then smiled. "Lucy, yes, I'm Lucy. Lucy Barker."

"I'm Toby," he said, walking over to stand by the couch where she sat.

"I used to live here," Mrs Barker said, gazing around the room dreamily. "And Benjamin and Johanna. We were happy." Her face clouded. "But then Benjamin was sent away, and little Johanna taken, and…" She trailed off.

"Shh, you're safe now," Mr Barker said.

He was so different from how he had been when Toby first met him. The murdering, lying man that was Mr Todd was no longer present. Mr Barker was almost the opposite: caring and loving. He had even used Toby's name for the first time he could remember.

It scared Toby a bit, how complete the change was. If Mr Barker didn't look exactly like Mr Todd, Toby would doubt that he was even the same person.

Creaking footsteps came from the stairs outside, and then the sound of a door opening. Mr Barker looked up.

"I have to go," he said reluctantly. "If you can, stay with Lucy and keep her company."

"Yes, sir," Toby said.

When Mr Barker left, Toby carefully sat down next to Mrs Barker on the couch. She started singing a lullaby softly, something about the moon and rings.

Toby didn't know what to say to her. This woman was crazy, or at least she had been for as long as he could remember. Even back when he lived in the workhouse, he saw her occasionally on the streets, shouting at random people and sometimes him. He pitied her, of course, especially now that she had fallen ill again, but there were plenty of people worthy of pity in London.

"What was that like?" he interrupted her suddenly, thinking of what she had said earlier about her daughter. "Having a family. What was your life like growing up?"

Mrs Barker stopped singing and appeared to be thinking about the question.

"I didn't live here," she said finally, more lucid than she was before. "My family lived in a little house in the country in the north of England. My sisters and I grew up there, until our family moved to London to…" She stopped, thinking. "To start a business, yes. My father wanted to start a business, to be a spectacle maker. And when we came here, that's when I met Benjamin."

Mrs Barker looked younger and happier when she thought of the past. Toby wondered what awful things had happened between then and now that had changed her so much. What had led to her living on the streets?

But asking those questions of her would probably tear her out of this happier state she was in and send her mind wandering off who-knows-where again. So Toby decided to ask Mrs Lovett or, perhaps, Mr Barker later.

"You met Benjamin," he prompted.

"Yes," she said, eyes alight with the glow of happy memories. "And we knew we were destined for each other the moment our eyes met." She gazed off, not at any point in particular but into whatever time she was seeing. "We courted, and my father gave his approval for the marriage. We were wed, and soon after had a beautiful child. Johanna."

"I hope I have a happy ending like that," Toby mused. "My life has been full of pain and fear, with only a few, fleeting moments of pleasure and smiles."

"Don't worry, dear, everyone gets their happy ending," Mrs Barker assured him, patting his shoulder. Her face clouded suddenly. "But it's what happens after that that you really must fear. Happy endings aren't the ending, remember that."

Toby didn't know how to respond to that. His only hope for years was that he could someday have a happy ending and a good, long life.

If that wasn't actually the end of his troubles, he didn't know how he would hold on to hope.

* * *

"Toby?"

Where had that boy gotten to? It wasn't like him to wander off, not right before dinner. Mrs Lovett looked around the pie shop one more time. She doubted he was in the bakehouse, not after what had happened there last time.

She passed the parlor door, paused, and then went back to open it. Sure enough, there was the boy, sitting next to Lucy and talking to her.

"Toby, I need you," Mrs Lovett called, perhaps a bit sharper than was absolutely necessary.

"Coming, mum," he said, jumping up immediately. "Thank you for talking to me," he told Lucy before running over to Mrs Lovett.

"Careful around her, Toby," Mrs Lovett warned him. "She's not entirely in her senses and you never know when she'll snap."

"She's very nice, though," he said. "And Mr Barker asked me to watch her."

Mrs Lovett wasn't that concerned about Toby. She doubted that Lucy, even if she did suddenly lose the rest of the shattered fragments of her mind, would attack the boy. But she didn't want him to become friends with her, not when Mrs Lovett was planning to kill Lucy as soon as possible.

But she didn't want to appear like she hated the girl, so she didn't push any farther with Toby, just told him to start serving the customers that were appearing.

She would have to keep them apart, at least until it would no longer matter.

* * *

The boy was nice, Lucy decided. Yes, he was. He was kind to ask about her childhood. Nobody had done that for very many years. Only when she first came to London did they ask about where she had lived before.

Toby, that was his name. She would try to remember, although remembering things now was hard. It was easy to recall her past, back before Benjamin had been sent away. The dark times after that were things she didn't want to remember, but things that wanted her to remember them. Ghosts, they were, ghosts that haunted the streets of London and teased her in her dreams and sometimes while she was awake.

It was still hard to keep her mind in the present, especially when it was easier to send it to the past when things were happy.

But already, it took less effort than before to keep her mind here. The poison, whether it was arsenic as she suspected or food poisoning as Mrs Lovett told her, had flipped the switch in her brain again, the one that had been turned when she first took the poison. Now she was recovering.

It was odd, what chemicals did to her body. She would have to think about that. Lucy was not a chemist, but she supposed that people might want to know about the odd effects that poison had on her.

_Warning: Poison may not kill you, may simply drive you insane._ That was what they should put on the bottle. Living without Benjamin was terrible, but half-living without Benjamin was worse. They should have put that on the bottle, and maybe she wouldn't have taken the poison.

But that was in the past. There was no use wishing for things in the past. No matter how much she wanted it to come true.

She had had fifteen years of wishing, and nothing had changed.

No, not true.

Perhaps wishes do come true, because her Benjamin had returned.

And, slowly, she was recovering.

* * *

Benjamin was growing bored of shaving customers. It was how he had made his living for years, but still, something was off. And there was an irritating buzzing in his ears.

No, he realized, Sweeney Todd was growing bored. Murder was never dull and he had gotten so used to it that it was hard to change his habits.

Again and again, he had to actually focus to stop his hand from drawing the razor across customers' necks.

But he resisted every time, which was a good sign. It helped that he actually had a reason to live that had nothing to do with revenge.

Lucy was alive. That thought pulsed through his mind every few seconds, and it did help him throughout the day when he felt like killing people.

Maybe they all deserved to die, but some surely had wives or children at home waiting. He thought of how he had felt when he learned Lucy was dead, and Sweeney Todd grew a bit weaker every time.

Still, every time a customer thanked him and left, there was that longing.

Benjamin didn't want to kill anymore. It was an addiction now, as bad as laudanum was for many of the residents of London. He was trying to stop.

He had spent enough time thinking about it. Maybe if he distracted himself with thoughts of something else, then he wouldn't be so tempted.

_Lucy…Johanna…Turpin,_ his mind said.

Well. That was no help. He was already thinking constantly of Lucy, which didn't help. Johanna was gone and he knew Anthony, however annoying the boy had been, would take good care of her, as Benjamin would with Lucy. Turpin was dead and gone, and hopefully nobody would connect his absence to Sweeney Todd.

No, there wasn't much else to think about.

_Mrs Lovett?_ his mind tried.

_What about her?_ He thought for a moment. She had been acting odd lately, talking less and seeming almost angry at times when there was no reason to. Again, though, he chalked it up to the return of Lucy. He knew Mrs Lovett hoped she could marry him, and that would have to upset her some. It was her own fault, though, that he hadn't known she was alive in the first place, so he felt no pity for her about that.

Everything had changed in so little time. Just 24 hours ago, he had been carelessly killing people and hoping that the judge would come. Now, he was consumed with thoughts of caring for Lucy.

And he did have to keep correcting people about his name. Perhaps he should change the sign outside.

Because, at least for now, Benjamin Barker owned the tonsorial parlor. Sweeney Todd didn't.


	7. Harm You

Mrs Lovett found it hard to sleep. Her head was full of too many emotions. Love and hate, love and hate, in a wild, endless dance around her mind.

Love for the man upstairs, of course, and hate for his wife.

The time passed strangely throughout the night. Eventually, she found herself pondering how she could kill Lucy.

She had tried poison, but evidently that wasn't going to work. And besides, another case of poisoning and Benjamin would surely catch on.

She wasn't Sweeney Todd. She couldn't offer Lucy a shave and slit her throat.

She didn't want to wait, despite the fact that that was the advice she had given Sweeney. Mrs Lovett hadn't realized back then how all-consuming the urge for vengeance could be. Waiting was not an option.

What else was there? A stabbing in the dead of night? A shove into the sewers?

No, but that was along the right lines. If Lucy, in her delicate condition, stumbled down the stairs, she could die without Mrs Lovett drawing any suspicion whatsoever.

That was it. She could convince Lucy to go upstairs to see Sweeney up there in his shop. Place a few pieces of ice carefully and, with luck, the poor thing would slip and fall all the way down.

And the evidence would simply melt away. With all the rain in London, nobody would question the puddle of water left at the top of the stairs.

With that decided, Mrs Lovett finally drifted off to a sleep full of dreams of living by the sea.

* * *

Benjamin found it easy to sleep. For once, his mind was not occupied by thoughts of revenge.

To be with Lucy, he spent the night in the parlor. The couches, mostly for show, were not particularly comfortable, but it didn't matter.

Simply knowing that Lucy was there, although she was ill again, allowed him to breathe easier.

For the first time in forever, he could actually sleep.

Now, he felt home again.

* * *

Lucy awoke in the dark, gasping and panting from the memories of Judge Turpin's house. She heard Benjamin move in the darkness and saw his faint outline sit up.

"Lucy, are you all right?" he asked urgently, almost instantly at her side.

She couldn't respond for a moment.

"Dreams," she said finally. "Nightmares. They come too often, too often, too long."

He took her hands. "How long have you had these nightmares?" he questioned softly.

"Since…since…" She didn't want to talk about the rape, the torment she had experienced. Lucy took a deep breath and exhaled shakily, almost shuddering with the movement of air.

"Don't fear, my love," Benjamin said, helping her sit up. He placed himself on the couch next to her. "I'm here."

"I know, I know, and the judge is gone, yes?" Lucy said.

"Yes, yes, he'll never trouble you again," Benjamin assured her.

But the memories would never be gone. They would trouble her until the day she died.

"Nothing's gonna hurt you, not while I'm around," he murmured to her reassuringly.

Slowly, Lucy relaxed, leaning into Benjamin. He continued to whisper softly to her, words she didn't totally hear. It didn't matter. She knew their intent.

"I love you," she said, pronouncing the words carefully. They used to say it to each other many times every day, but she hadn't said those words in years.

She couldn't see Benjamin, but she knew he was smiling. "I love you, too," he said.

Without needing any more words, they turned toward each other and kissed. Lucy felt totally in control of her mind and she was happier than she had been for so many years.

Maybe the Barker family, though torn apart and carelessly destroyed, could have a future.

* * *

Toby awoke in the morning, wondering what awful thing would occur today. Two days ago, he found out that Mrs Lovett's pies were made of _human flesh_, and that was only the beginning of the horrors. Yesterday, Mr Barker's wife had been poisoned.

What could happen today?

He didn't really want to find out, but he got out of bed anyway, only to find a strange scene occurring in the pie shop.

Most days, Mrs Lovett cooked breakfast and took a tray up to Mr Todd, whether he wanted it or not. Toby often wondered if Mr Todd ever ate. He didn't seem to. But every day, Mrs Lovett brought him food.

Today, Mr Barker was cooking breakfast, which was an entirely odd sight all on its own. But Mrs Lovett didn't seem like she normally did either. She had been less chatty lately, but now she was sitting at one of the tables, staring off into space as though consumed by important and not-entirely-wholesome thoughts.

Something was certainly different about her. She even looked like Mr Todd had, with the dark circles rimming her eyes.

Toby hoped she would be all right.

"Toby!" Mr Barker called to him cheerfully. "Good morning."

_Cheerfully_. Mr Barker was not Mr Todd, Toby decided. They may look the same, but they were not the same person.

With that figured out, Toby wandered over to where Mrs Lovett was sitting. "Are you all right, mum?"

"Hmm?" She blinked a couple of times and looked at him. "Yes, I'm fine," she said dismissively.

Toby didn't comment further, but he didn't truly believe that she was all right.

He heard the parlor door opened, and turned in that direction to see Mrs Barker emerge.

She had changed into one of the dresses Mr Barker had bought for her yesterday, and she was beautiful. The transformation was astonishing. It wasn't just the dress. She also appeared saner than she had before and her hair was down.

Mr Barker smiled at her, another thing Toby had never seen him do. "Good morning, my love," he said.

Mrs Lovett glanced at Mrs Barker, Mr Barker, and then went back to staring at nothing.

Toby wasn't sure where to go. He wanted to stay with Mrs Lovett, but a part of him was a bit frightened of her now.

Mrs Lovett was acting like Sweeney Todd.

And Sweeney Todd had turned out to be a mass murderer.

* * *

Mrs Lovett had never killed anyone. She had tried, of course, with the poison, but that didn't work out.

She was ready to kill now.

Lucy's appearance pushed her over the edge. How could she hope to compete with that? It didn't matter how much she had done for Sweeney Todd, with Lucy looking that gorgeous, Benjamin would only have eyes for her, the same way he had all those years ago.

When life wasn't fair, what could she do?

Sweeney Todd had answered that question.

And Mrs Lovett would happily follow his example.

* * *

When Benjamin went upstairs to open up his shop, Lucy stayed down in the pie shop with Mrs Lovett and Toby.

She didn't like just sitting around as she had yesterday. Sure, she had been poisoned – whether it was the food poisoning or arsenic – but she was used to having things to do during the day.

Taking care of Johanna had taken up much of her free time after the girl was born, but before that Lucy had a job sewing dresses for the nobility. Benjamin had his barbershop, of course, but Lucy liked to feel useful.

Now, she didn't think she could go back to sewing. Although she had enjoyed it for many years, the long break she had had caused her to forget most of what she knew.

Lucy wanted something to do, at least during the times when she felt sane enough to function normally.

So she stayed downstairs and watched Mrs Lovett as she got ready to open the shop.

Eventually, she worked up the nerve to ask, "Mrs Lovett?"

The woman looked at her, the rolling pin not stopping even for a second.

"Do you think I could help you out in the shop?"

Mrs Lovett raised her eyebrows. "I've got Toby."

"Yes, but I thought it's still a lot of work even for two people to do. And he's young…"

"I'm old enough to help Mrs Lovett," Toby said defensively.

Lucy smiled at him. It was nice to see a young boy so eager to help. "I know, but wouldn't it be nice to have some more help?"

He thought, then nodded.

Lucy looked up at Mrs Lovett again. "Would you like the help?"

Mrs Lovett looked down at the dough she was rolling. "All right."

"What should I do first?" Lucy asked, standing up.

"There's a batch of pies in the bakehouse oven," the other woman said. "Go down and bring them up."

Lucy knew Mrs Lovett didn't like her much, but she hoped her opinion would change soon.

* * *

That girl was really annoying. Now she was offering to help Mrs Lovett?

Well. It would be easier to find the right time to kill her now, with her hanging around more.

Too stupid. Too lovely. Too sweet. Too naïve. Too trusting.

Too bad. Poor thing.


	8. What I'd Dream

_A customer had just left the barbershop when another one walked in, one with a very familiar face._

Benjamin instantly knew he must be dreaming, because how else could this man be here?

Sweeney Todd smirked at Benjamin. "How's business?"

Benjamin glared at his alter ego and wished to wake up. "Better than it was when you worked here. At least I get repeat visitors. Why are you here?"

Sweeney shrugged and sat down in the barber chair resignedly. "I would rather not be here either." He pulled out a razor and flipped it open, holding it to the faint light from the window.

"Can't you leave?"

"As much as we both hate it, we are stuck together. Eventually, one of us will die. We both know it. I'll return and you'll be gone forever." Sweeney lowered the razor and grinned darkly. "We all deserve to die anyway."

"So I've heard," Benjamin murmured.

They were both silent for a moment.

"You almost died," Sweeney pointed out. "I thought you were dead."

"Not completely," Benjamin said. "Unlike all of those that you have killed." He shook his head. Although it had seemed entirely justified, now he didn't even want to think about it.

Sweeney shrugged dismissively. "The lives of the wicked should be made brief, and…"

"Yes, yes, I know, for the rest of us death will be a relief," Benjamin finished, rolling his eyes. "But what about the ones left behind? Would you have encouraged Lucy's death?"

That shut Sweeney up for a minute. Then he said, "No, but Mrs Lovett would have."

"What does that mean?" Benjamin asked.

Sweeney snickered. "You haven't noticed?"

"She lied to me about Lucy being dead. That doesn't mean she would have preferred it."

"Still naïve. The poor woman is in love with you. And as we both know, people will go to any lengths for love."

Before he could respond, a noise pulled Benjamin back into consciousness.

* * *

_Mrs Lovett was tired of dead bodies._

Sweeney Todd killed them, but he didn't have to deal with them. Mrs Lovett was the one who disposed of them.

And the images stayed with her, even in dreams.

All of them, the endless parade of faces. She didn't know her memory was this good.

Most of the people she didn't know, which made it easier. But there was Pirelli and the Beadle. And Judge Turpin, of course.

She couldn't say that any of them deserved to live. But the corpses haunted her.

Tonight, though, there was a new body in the pile, one that made Mrs Lovett grin with wicked pleasure.

She shouldn't enjoy it this much, especially when it wasn't a reality.

But she did.

Lucy's corpse had joined the pile.

Suddenly, anxiety pierced her thoughts. What if Benjamin figured out what had happened to Lucy?

Mrs Lovett knew he would kill her.

She would have to be careful. Wait for the right moment, make sure it looked like an accident. Wait as he grieved and, eventually, recovered from the loss of his wife.

Wait, and only then would she get her happy ending by the sea.

As she looked over the pile of bodies again, they didn't bother her as much anymore.

Sometimes murder was the only option.

A noise woke her up, and she sat up in her bed, her mind still echoing that thought.

She made a slight change to the statement before going to investigate the noise.

Sometimes murder wasn't the only option, but sometimes it was the best.

* * *

_Toby was happily eating breakfast with his family._ His father was talking about his work and his mother was cooking in the kitchen.

He was getting ready to go off to school when a sharp bang sounded, bringing him back into real life.

Toby sighed. The dreams about having a normal family were amazing, but they always left him saddened when he awoke.

He thought about the dream and realized something.

The faces of the father and mother were Mr and Mrs Barker.

* * *

_The crowd laughed as Lucy screamed._ The moment seemed to drag on and on.

Lucy turned over in bed, and the scene changed.

Memories of Johanna surfaced. The baby was beautiful, the prettiest one Lucy had ever seen. She and Benjamin played with her, laughing and smiling at each other. When Johanna said her first word, "Mama," Lucy glowed with pride and joy.

Even in her half-crazed state, Lucy had watched Johanna grow up through the window. She was a beautiful young woman. Memories flashed through her mind and she smiled in her sleep.

These were better memories, ones that didn't hurt.

A noise woke Lucy, and she was pulled away from the happy thoughts.

* * *

Mrs Lovett went outside to see what the cause of the noise was. The sight shocked her into laughter.

Mrs Mooney looked up and, seeing Mrs Lovett, quickly straightened up from her crouch.

"Nellie," she said, surprised. "I'm…well…how's the shop?"

A loud meow came from the gutter Mrs Mooney was near. The other woman looked down, a little embarrassed.

"I'm trying to catch the cat," she explained. "One of my neighbor's. It ran away…"

"And you need more meat for your pies?" Mrs Lovett asked.

Mrs Mooney took a step back, shocked. "You…you know?"

Mrs Lovett laughed. "I know, Madeline. Maybe your neighbors didn't notice you popping their pussies into pies, but I did."

"Times are hard," she said defensively. "I don't know what you're using for your pies, with the price of meat what it is."

Mrs Lovett smiled wickedly. "Would you like to know?"

"Of course," Mrs Mooney said.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, I do."

"It's human," Mrs Lovett informed her.

Mrs Mooney chuckled. "You can't be serious."

Mrs Lovett just smiled wider.

The grin dropped off Mrs Mooney's face. "Really?"

Mrs Lovett shrugged. "Cats, humans, what's the difference?"

Mrs Mooney nodded, slowly at first and then faster as she thought about it. "And no one suspects?"

"Nobody," Mrs Lovett confirmed.

"Well, Nellie, you do know how to run a business." Mrs Mooney was impressed.

"What can I say?" Mrs Lovett asked.

"Enterprise," they said together, grinning.

* * *

**A/N: Mrs Mooney's character and scene inspired by Obscure Bird's story Have to Hand it to Her.**


	9. What Have I Done?

London morning was gray and gloomy as always.

As Benjamin shaved customers, he thought about Johanna and Anthony off in the sea. He hoped they were all right. Anthony was a good sailor, as he had learned on the ship, but any number of things could have happened. Pirates, storms, sharks…the possibilities were endless.

Benjamin wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing. His thoughts were elsewhere as he lathered a man's face.

His thoughts were elsewhere as he opened his razor.

His thoughts were elsewhere as he slit the man's throat.

Carelessly wiping off the razor, he stepped on the pedal before realizing what he had just done.

Even as Benjamin's eyes widened in horror, part of him was demonically pleased. Warm blood covered his arms.

Benjamin Barker had not intended to kill someone.

But Sweeney Todd enjoyed it, rejoiced in the murder.

And as much as Benjamin hated to admit it, it did feel good. He felt more alive and a smile crossed his face. Horror and satisfaction mingled in a terrible stew of emotion.

The barber wondered who he was. Sweeney Todd or Benjamin Barker?

The muddled emotions he felt told him the two weren't that different.

* * *

Lucy didn't like to be too near the oven. Fire was not something she enjoyed. Every time she had to reach inside to put in a tray or pull one out, she flinched away from the intense heat.

But she dealt with it. She could handle anything that came with helping Mrs Lovett.

Or so she thought.

A loud squeak came from behind her like the creak of hinges. Lucy turned around just in time to see a body drop from a hole in the ceiling, his neck spurting blood.

She shrieked and stepped back, almost falling into the oven. With a crackle, her dress caught fire.

She screamed again and stomped on the fabric to put out the fire.

"Sign of the devil, sign of the devil! City on fire!"

Lucy approached the body. Her thoughts came in rapid, nonsensical succession.

_How is this here_

_Why_

_So much blood_

_Witchcraft_

_Devil_

_City on fire, city on fire_

_Have to find out what happened_

_It came down_

_Down_

_From upstairs, upstairs, have to go upstairs._

With this thought ringing in her mind, Lucy ran up the stairs and out of the bakehouse.

The boy, what was his name, what was his name, didn't she know him? Toby, that was it, Toby. He stood and came over to her.

"Are you all right, Mrs Barker?"

_Are you all right am I all right what does that mean now why was there a dead body why_

Mrs Lovett entered the shop and looked at Lucy in surprise.

"Devil's wife!" Lucy shrieked. "Murderer, murderer, witch!"

She ran out of the shop and to the stairs leaving a shocked Mrs Lovett behind.

Toby ran after her. Lucy didn't look at him, just started up the stairs.

_Have to find out where_

_Where it came from_

_Whose fault is it who killed him_

_Who was he anyway_

_Doesn't matter have to find out_

She started up the stairs.

* * *

Mrs Barker was definitely not all right. Toby followed after her as she went up the stairs. She was more like she had been when he had first met her, when she was a lunatic on the streets ranting to anyone who would listen.

Why had she called Mrs Lovett a murderer? What had she seen down there in the bakehouse?

…the same thing he had? Was Mr Todd killing people again?

There were so many questions he had now, so he followed her.

About two thirds of the way up the staircase, she stopped walking and stood in place, swaying slightly. Toby hesitated, then steadied her. Keeping his hand on her back, he helped her up the stairs.

Obviously, something she needed was up here, and he wanted to find out what it was. Mrs Barker stumbled up the rest of the steps.

When she put her foot on the top step, it slipped. She let out a scream and started to fall.

Mr Barker was instantly at the door and ran out, but he would be too late.

Mrs Barker started to fall backwards. Toby could see exactly what would happen next. She would fall down the stairs and land in a heap at the bottom, either dead or seriously injured.

Quickly, Toby took a step down and with all he had pushed against Mrs Barker's weight, supporting her for long enough that she regained her balance.

When she again went up the last stair, she did it more carefully and kept her balance.

Toby found that his heart was pounding. Had he just saved her life?

And why were Mr Barker's sleeves red?

* * *

Toby had just saved her life. Benjamin couldn't believe it.

It was insane how much he could feel at the same time. Grief, guilt, relief, happiness, gratitude, and those were just the beginning.

"Evil! Mischief! Witchcraft!" Lucy yelled.

His heart sank. Lucy was going mad again.

Still, he tried to speak to her reasonably. "What do you mean, Lucy?"

Toby was looking at him strangely, almost fearfully.

Benjamin glanced down. His sleeves were still covered in blood and he had no idea what to say to Toby about it.

"Thank you," he said, a bit stiffly, "for saving her."

He guided Lucy into the shop and closed the door, trying not to consider what Toby might be thinking.

"What happened, Lucy?" he asked again.

Her wide eyes roved about the room. "The body, the body, fell from the ceiling, from here? From upstairs, fell down below. Why, why, where did it come from?"

Horrible guilt struck Benjamin again. This was his fault. He had pushed Lucy into this relapse by killing that man.

His life had been getting better. There were problems, but things were looking up. He had his wife and daughter back.

And now this. Lucy was insane again, Toby likely suspected him – rightfully – of murdering yet another person, and who knew what Mrs Lovett would think when she saw the body?

Lucy looked at him. "Don't I know you, mister?"

"Yes, Lucy, you do," he said in a low whisper. "Although you may not want to anymore."

* * *

Something down in the bakehouse had frightened Lucy enough to make her go insane again. Mrs Lovett had to see what that was.

She headed down the steps, mind spinning with ideas of what it could have been. Had she left any bones behind?

Mrs Lovett took a step back when she saw it, pressing a hand to her chest. After she recovered from the shock, she suppressed a smile.

Fresh meat.

She wondered why Benjamin had killed him. Had the man said something that offended him?

The reason didn't matter. It was now her job to take care of the body.

She smirked. It had driven Lucy mad again, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad to keep around.

But it wouldn't be practical. Toby wouldn't like it much if he came down here and saw the corpse.

So she had to get rid of it somehow.

The question was, pies or fire?

_Fire_, she decided. She didn't need any suspicion from anyone about anything, not now. She dragged the body over to the oven and shoved it inside, closing and latching the heavy door.

She had just finished when Toby ran into the room.

"Mum, do you know what's going on? Mrs Barker just came from down here and she's not herself, you saw." He would have continued, but Mrs Lovett interrupted.

"You know how she's been ever since she got food poisoning. I'm sure it's nothing," she told him.

"But Mr Barker, he had…" Toby stopped talking and glanced up at the trapdoor in the ceiling and to the floor below it. Red liquid was pooled in the cracks in the brick floor.

Mrs Lovett wasn't sure what to say. She didn't particularly care about what the boy thought of Benjamin. He had it figured out already – twice now – and there wasn't anything she could say to hide the truth.

So all she said was "Let's go upstairs" as he made the obvious connection.

And she glanced up, wondering what sort of conversation could possibly be going on up there.

* * *

_Red red red _

_Red sleeves_

_Red blood_

_Red fire_

Lucy knew, in some deep, buried part of her mind, that she was acting insane. But that part was too shy and quiet to make any difference.

She attempted to listen to what he was saying. The man, her husband, wasn't he?

"Can you hear me?"

"You…"

_you you you, you did it…_

She didn't know the words to say, so she just gestured to her own arms.

Benjamin looked down at his sleeves.

_Red red red_

He shook his head slowly but said nothing.

Lucy struggled to connect some of the words in her mind. "Did you, downstairs, body, blood?"

She had to know, had to know, had to know the answer.

* * *

Benjamin sat down in the chair and put his head in his hands, his chest heavy with the weight of guilt and despair. After a moment, he lifted his head. "It wasn't me."

And it wasn't, it was Sweeney Todd.

That knowledge did not help at all.

"Oh…" she said, relieved, and smiled at him. "Then who, how, why?"

He couldn't answer that question. Or, at least, didn't want to.

It had only been a moment. One moment and his whole life had changed again. It was an accident, but who else would kill someone on accident?

Perhaps there was never a Sweeney Todd. Perhaps there was only Benjamin Barker, had only ever been Benjamin Barker.

He had justified his actions. There were reasons for everything he did.

But now, he wished none of it had ever happened.

Maybe it would have been better if he had never returned from Australia. No matter how bad it had been there, at least he had never felt this way.

He had never had to deal with this terrible, consuming guilt.

Who _was _he?

The demon barber of Fleet Street.

As much as he hated it, it was the truth.

He was still the demon barber.

* * *

**I have a lot of free time today, so I'm hoping to get the story finished by tonight. Only a couple chapters left...**


	10. With What I Can't Forget

Mrs Lovett was done with this charade. Toby had told her that Lucy had actually slipped at the top of the stairs as she was intended to. But he had saved her. That boy, who she used to care for so much, was now only an annoying liability.

She had to keep him away from Lucy, at the very least.

But that didn't matter at the moment. She was tired of waiting. Again, she thought of how she had told Sweeney to wait and he didn't listen.

Mrs Lovett understood.

She would give it another day. And if Lucy wasn't dead by then, she didn't know what she would do.

* * *

Benjamin realized the shop was still open. He quickly put on his jacket, just in time.

The bell above the door jingled as a customer entered the barbershop. "Mr Todd?"

"Barker, actually," Benjamin corrected automatically. He had gotten used to that the past few days.

The man was confused for a moment, but he accepted the change. "All right, Mr Barker. I'd like a shave."

Benjamin glanced over at Lucy. "One moment, please." He thanked whatever gods he could think of that Lucy remained quiet as he helped her downstairs.

He asked Mrs Lovett to watch her. She agreed with a heavy sigh, glancing at the customers that had started to arrive at her shop.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, earning a smile from her, the first he had seen in a while.

As he went up to his shop, he noticed a small puddle of water at the top of the stairs. No surprise. A dry day in London was a miraculous event.

The man was still there, looking awkward as though he didn't know what to do without Benjamin there.

"Thank you for your patience," Benjamin said as he entered.

"Not at all," he said, relieved to see Benjamin returned. He sat in the chair and leaned back, closing his eyes.

Benjamin was very careful this time not to get distracted. As he lathered the man's face, the urge to kill him flared up.

It was worse than it had been before. The part of him that was Sweeney Todd had grown stronger, as though the blood was what he lived on.

He struggled with the bloodlust rising in him, pushing it down as much as he could.

Why was this so difficult? Most people didn't have a problem not murdering others.

But then, most people were only one person.

* * *

_blood fear death fire darkness_

Lucy curled up into a small ball on the couch, hands clamped over her ears, trying to block out the voices that were screaming at her.

_death evil smoke smoke devil death murder _

They screamed terrible, terrible things. About how she would end up like the dead body, falling through the ceiling. About how she was weak and silly and stupid. About how Benjamin hated her for taking the poison. About how she didn't deserve to be here.

_no don't listen don't listen can't listen to them_

_Johanna Benjamin Nellie Toby Turpin Beadle Anthony Lucy_

_Lucy Lucy Lucy _

"Lucy…" the voices whispered, and then disappeared.

She looked up.

"Lucy?" Mrs Lovett repeated in an irritated tone, standing in front of the couch. "Do you hear me?"

"…yes," she said.

_don't trust her she's the wife of the devil don't trust her_

"What happened in the bakehouse?" Mrs Lovett asked.

_what happened what happened blood and death and fire and fear that's what happened_

Lucy couldn't respond. She didn't want to think about what had happened down there. She didn't want to relive it.

But she knew, like that night at Judge Turpin's house, it would replay in her mind forever.

_forever forever why can't I forget?_

_Never ever forget that's life_

Mrs Lovett seemed frustrated. She turned and left the room.

Lucy was alone.

_where is my Benjamin where is my Johanna can't be alone or the demons will get me_

She knew she had to untangle her twisted thoughts or she would never be able to live.

But they wouldn't stay straight.

* * *

Toby didn't know what to think.

Mr Barker had killed someone, that was the obvious assumption. Why else would there be blood on his sleeves? Why else would Mrs Barker have run up from the bakehouse screaming "Murderer"?

But then, she wasn't exactly sane at the moment. He could hear her in the parlor as he served customers, muttering to herself. And it didn't have to be blood, it could have been ink on Mr Barker's shirt.

Toby was an expert at deluding himself. He had had plenty of practice with that while working for Signor Pirelli. He would tell himself that his situation wasn't that bad, that Signor Pirelli would get kinder. He would even believe his lies.

But even Toby was having a hard time deluding himself into believing Mr Barker had not killed anyone.

There was a way to be sure. But after his last visit to the bakehouse, he never wanted to go down there again.

He asked himself why he didn't want to believe Mr Barker had killed anyone. After all, he had suspected Sweeney Todd and never tried to deny it.

The question made Toby think. Luckily, serving customers wasn't a particularly difficult task, so he could ponder the question while doing that.

When he found the answer, it surprised him.

He liked Mr Barker. And Mrs Barker. He loved Mrs Lovett, but she had seemed distant lately. And much too Sweeney Todd-like. He worried about her. She never seemed to sleep or eat anymore, and she paced at all hours of the night.

Just like Mr Todd.

But he didn't want to believe Mr Barker would have killed someone because he liked the Barkers. Mr Barker was so different than he was when he called himself Mr Todd. Mrs Barker was good for him.

He could just go and ask.

When the thought crossed his mind, he wanted to do that more than anything. He doubted it would put him in any danger. Mr Todd might have killed him at one point, but Mr Barker was different.

And that was the whole point. He had changed.

So Toby decided to talk to Mr Barker.

When the lunch rush was through, he carefully walked up the stairs to the barbershop.

* * *

The bell rang as the door swung open. Benjamin prepared himself to resist the bloodlust and looked at the entrance.

Whatever sight he might have expected, Toby was not it.

He looked on edge, and he had good reason to. After all, he had just seen Benjamin with clothes covered in blood.

"Mr Barker, I wanted to ask you a question," he said cautiously.

Funny how that simple sentence frightened Benjamin more than going to prison had.

"What is it?" Benjamin sat down in the barber chair, resigned to facing whatever conversation Toby wanted to start.

He took a deep breath. "Did you kill anyone?"

Benjamin had expected something along those lines. He smiled, albeit a bit sadly, at the way Toby had phrased it.

"You already know I've killed people before."

It was an answer to the question, but he knew what Toby had meant, and that wasn't it.

"I mean today," Toby said, more confidently now that he knew Benjamin would not react violently. "With your sleeves – and what Mrs Barker was shouting – I don't know what else to think."

Benjamin closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath, wondering what to tell him.

He decided on the truth. "Yes, but I did not intend to."

Toby looked at him disbelievingly. "How can you not intend to kill someone?" His voice rose almost to a shout.

"Trust me, I've been wondering that too," Benjamin said tiredly.

"Trust you," Toby muttered. He seemed angry, and he had good reason to, but there was something else in his voice and expression. "I did trust you, and now…"

Betrayed. That was it.

On top of all the other guilt Benjamin felt, now he had to feel bad about hurting Toby. The boy had had such a hard life already, from the workhouse to Pirelli to, he admitted it, living in the same place as Sweeney Todd. Now he had just started to trust Benjamin, and he had done this.

Another emotion rose inside Benjamin. He had felt it before, but it still took him a moment to place it.

It was the thirst for revenge. He wanted vengeance on whoever had made his life a living hell.

But he had destroyed his own life this time, because of one moment of distraction.

How could he explain to Toby why he had killed the man?

He didn't understand it himself.

But he regretted it more than anything he had ever done before.

* * *

It wouldn't be _difficult_ to kill Lucy. That wasn't the issue. Mrs Lovett knew that. The girl was sitting in the other room, not even in her senses. If she really wanted to kill her, it would be easy. Take a knife, stab her a few times, and leave. Done.

The problem was that she needed Benjamin to fall in love with her afterwards. Her happy ending by the sea was still possible, she just had to be creative about it.

With that in mind, she went into the parlor.

Now, Lucy seemed more in control, but a little creepier. She sat calmly on the couch, without moving or speaking, and her eyes followed Mrs Lovett as she walked into the room.

"What are you doing?" This was worse than when she had been reacting to nothing and rattling off long lists of nonsensical gibberish.

Lucy said nothing, just watched her with those wide, unblinking eyes.

Mrs Lovett watched her for a minute, but quickly got bored. She didn't know why she had entered the room in the first place. What was she hoping to find?

As she headed toward the door, an impossibly loud scream came from Lucy. Mrs Lovett flinched horribly and spun, only to see Lucy sitting in the exact same place as though nothing had happened.

Mrs Lovett watched her suspiciously for a moment. She was about to turn away again when Lucy opened her mouth and shrieked again.

This was pointless. The girl was out of her senses.

On her way out of the room, she ran into Benjamin, who presumably had rushed down the stairs at the sound of Lucy's scream.

He barely gave Mrs Lovett a glance as he went to see if Lucy was all right.

Mrs Lovett stood in the doorway, watching the pair of them together. It didn't matter that Lucy didn't respond to anything Benjamin did, he still stayed and spoke softly to her.

Mrs Lovett felt the familiar anger at Lucy rise in her. She told herself to wait, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do it for much longer.

_Soon will come, soon will last…_


	11. To Say Goodbye

Toby couldn't deal with any of this. He couldn't stay in the building anymore. It was all too much.

He walked out of the barbershop and started down Fleet Street. He didn't know where he was going, as long as it was away from the confusing morals and strange dynamics of Mr Barker, Mrs Barker, and Mrs Lovett.

Toby wondered how his life had changed so much in so little time. It was only a few weeks ago that he had been trying to sell a fake elixir to a crowd of people, and now look at what was happening.

He was scared, too, because of how little he seemed to care about the death of whatever poor man had died. Mr Barker had flat-out admitted that he killed someone, and though Toby had been upset about it, he didn't have anything close to what the reaction of a normal person would have been like.

What did that mean about who he was? Was Toby really the kind of person to shrug it off the way Mr Barker and even Mrs Lovett seemed to?

He wasn't sure if he would ever go back. It surely wasn't healthy for him to be around such people. Even Mrs Barker, though she was kind to him when she was in her senses, most of the time ranted about nothing.

What Toby wanted, more than anything, was a normal childhood, with loving parents and a place to go at the end of the day where he felt safe.

But he had never had that, and now he doubted that it could ever happen.

And as Mrs Barker had told him, happy endings often had a dismal epilogue.

So what could he do? Where could he go?

Toby had no answers. But for now, he would walk away.

And hope that he could find an answer or two along his path.

* * *

_death…smoke…horror…_

The crazed flurry of thoughts was slowing down now, something Lucy was grateful for. She could think at least a little bit rationally now, and she remembered what happened down in the bakehouse.

The body must have come from the barbershop. But that was where Benjamin worked, and that didn't make any sense.

Benjamin Barker was a lot of things, but he was not a murderer.

_blood, blood everywhere…_

Lucy didn't like just sitting, doing nothing. But she knew that she was not in good enough condition to do anything else.

This was worse than when she was simply shouting things nonsensically. At least then she didn't have to worry about what she was doing.

In this state, she could do nothing but think.

And thinking too long was not good for her.

Lucy wished fervently that her troubles could be over.

* * *

Finally, it was late enough that it wouldn't be strange for Mrs Lovett to close her shop. She flipped the sign on the door and sat down at one of the tables with a heavy sigh.

What was she going to do?

She could see the ending she wanted. She would kill Lucy, Benjamin would never suspect, and after he was through grieving she would be there. He would fall in love with her, and she would get exactly what she wanted.

Wouldn't she?

Mrs Lovett considered it. She could envision herself killing Lucy, that part was easy.

But though she could see her happy ending, she didn't care about it anymore.

She didn't care about Benjamin's love. That wasn't important anymore. It had been at the beginning, but the urge for revenge was stronger than love.

What did that mean?

Mrs Lovett thought about Sweeney Todd. He wanted revenge badly, so much so that, she realized now, he didn't care about Johanna. He hardly cared about Lucy after that first day.

No, vengeance was what drove him, not love.

She stood and started to pace, thinking about it. He loved Lucy, loved Johanna, and hated the Judge and the Beadle.

But his obsession was stronger than love or hate.

And now, it was the same for her.

It was almost a relief to consciously realize she didn't care about Benjamin anymore. With that in mind, she had options.

Mrs Lovett stopped her pacing near the counter and picked up a large knife. She looked over it, the same way Mr Todd had his razors, and let the anger she felt towards Lucy for destroying the life Mrs Lovett could have had consume her.

She knew she was insane.

But she didn't let that stop her at all as she headed toward the parlor.

No, she embraced her madness and encouraged it as she opened the door.

* * *

"Mrs Lovett?" Lucy said, shocked and frightened at the expression on the other woman's face. She was grinning like she had just made a deal with the devil.

And holding a knife.

_Sign of the devil, sign of the devil._

Lucy leapt to her feet, ignoring the dizziness that made her head spin, and backed away into the far corner of the parlor. Even through the vertigo, her mind felt clearer than it had for a long time.

Facing a murderer tended to do that.

Mrs Lovett kept approaching. Her smile told Lucy everything she needed to know. She came to a lot of realizations very fast.

_That _was_ arsenic in the pie._

_She's been trying to kill me all along._

_I have no way to escape._

_Benjamin could save me._

_Benjamin is a murderer too._

Mrs Lovett lifted the knife and kept walking, now only a few steps away.

Lucy found she was holding her breath and released it before she passed out.

"Don't…" she said, but couldn't finish. If Mrs Lovett wanted to kill her, at this point there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"I loved Benjamin," Mrs Lovett said, her voice breathless and insane. "And you took him away from me, not once but _twice._" She grinned wider, a terrible expression of hatred and madness on her face. "It's time for me to get my revenge."

She drew her hand back, the light glinting off the blade of the knife.

Lucy screamed.

And Mrs Lovett stabbed her in the chest, again and again. Lucy slumped to the floor, her thoughts bursting apart.

_Pain hot bright red _

_where is Benjamin?_

_Why_

_Why didn't I know_

_I'm still here I'm still here I'll be fine_

_have to hold on…_

_…have to stay alive…_

_…to stay alive…_

_…stay alive…_

_…alive…_

_…_

_…Johanna…_

_…Benjamin…_

_…Lucy…_

_…_

* * *

Benjamin rushed downstairs when he heard the scream. It was Lucy's, of course, but it didn't sound like it had earlier. This was a shriek of true fear and pain.

He burst into the parlor and stopped dead, stunned at the sight.

A calm Mrs Lovett was standing over Lucy's body, crumpled on the floor in the corner.

Mrs Lovett was holding a knife, dripping blood. She turned to face him.

Benjamin actually took a step back in shock. The expression on her face was utterly familiar to him, though he had never seen her look like that before.

It was an expression he had worn before.

The maliciously pleased look of finally getting vengeance.

Sweeney Todd was right. She hated Lucy and had for a long time.

Why hadn't he listened?

People will go to any lengths for love. He knew that.

But he hadn't expected this from eternally-cheerful Nellie Lovett.

That was about when the grief hit him, along with the anger. A great rush of emotions slammed into him and he didn't know whether to scream or cry.

He settled for rushing to Lucy's side. Blood still flowed from her chest. He felt her wrist, then her neck.

She was gone. Dead. Killed by Mrs Lovett.

Benjamin didn't let the emotions overcome him just yet. Instead, he leapt to his feet, automatically reaching for a razor in the holster at his belt.

"Why did you do this, Mrs Lovett?" he asked, holding the razor at his side. None of his emotions made their way into his voice, except plain confusion.

Her eyes held nothing but a glimmer of madness and an icy coldness that didn't suit her. "Lucy doesn't – didn't – deserve you. I did. But you never noticed. I've been trying to kill her, but she doesn't die very well." She kicked Lucy's feet. "Seems like it worked this time, though." A flicker of a smile crossed her face.

Now the anger flared up, doubled by the way she carelessly regarded his wife. "You've been trying to kill her." It was a statement, not a question. "Mrs Lovett, however practical you may be, you are not very good at seeking revenge." Benjamin laughed, albeit with anger, because he didn't know what the alternative would be. He took a step toward her, and she didn't back away.

"Kill me, then," she said carelessly. "I have nothing left in life anyway." She smiled darkly. "And we'll be together in death."

That made Benjamin pause. "What does that mean?"

She grinned wider. "You are a murderer. I bake people into meat pies. We're both going to be damned to hell. And sweet, innocent Lucy's going to heaven."

Benjamin knew she was right. And if the devil knew what he was doing, Benjamin would be sentenced to spend eternity with his wife's murderer.

The smile on Mrs Lovett's face irritated Benjamin. He slit her throat and turned away.

* * *

Mrs Lovett was dying. She had expected that, of course, and she didn't care anymore. The pain was only a minor annoyance at this point.

Benjamin Barker or Sweeney Todd, it didn't matter which personality he was at this moment. Through her blurred vision, he still looked beautiful.

She meant what she said to him. She knew she would be damned to hell and she was beyond caring.

Anything was better than continuing her life in this way.

_There was a barber and his wife, and he was beautiful…_

_Mrs Lovett, you're a bloody wonder, eminently practical and yet appropriate as always, as you've said repeatedly there's little point in dwelling on the past!_

With a smile still lingering on her lips, she fell into darkness.

* * *

Hours later, Toby returned to the pie shop, only a little reluctant.

The quiet that met his ears was disconcerting. A heavy tension hung in the air. Toby was certain that something terrible had happened. All that remained was to find out what it was and what awful twist his life had taken this time.

He silently walked over to the parlor door and, hesitantly, opened it.

Instantly, he wished he hadn't. He stepped back and squeezed his eyes shut, fervently hoping that it was all a dream and he would wake up.

When nothing happened after a moment, he opened his eyes and saw the same thing.

Two dead bodies lay on the ground. Toby forced himself not to start screaming and running. He had to redouble his efforts when he realized he recognized them.

Mrs Lovett and Mrs Barker.

Actually, he couldn't see Mrs Barker's face, but he knew it was her. That was because Mr Barker was sitting with her head in his lap, stroking her hair and singing softly.

Toby knew Mr Barker had heard him. The door had creaked when he opened it. But the barber did not react at all.

Toby had to leave. He had to get out of there. He didn't know what happened, and from the looks of it, he never wanted to know. Ignorance is bliss, that's what people said, and he did not want to hear what happened.

Without a word, Toby ran out of the room, out of the shop.

Again, he didn't know where he was going.

He just knew that he would never return.

* * *

Benjamin had no idea what to do now. How could he go on with his life? The things Mrs Lovett told him had gotten to him, more than he wanted to consciously admit.

Maybe he deserved hell. After everything he had done, he deserved to be tortured for the rest of eternity.

But, he supposed, living would be torture as well. Without Lucy, without Mrs Lovett, without anything or anyone to live for, how could he go on?

_Johanna,_ he remembered. But the thought brought no comfort. Johanna would be happy with Anthony, he knew that.

_Toby. _But Toby could live on his own. And he was gone, anyway, otherwise he would have come when he heard Lucy's screams. It was better for him not to be around Benjamin anyway.

He wondered dimly who he was right now. Benjamin Barker or Sweeney Todd?

They both deserved to die.

There was nothing left for him.

Nothing but death. An endless eternity of who-knew-what was waiting for him.

All he could do was go to it.

He picked up his razor and, like he had done to so many customers in the past, drew it across his throat.

A hot, bright surge of pain, and then he could feel nothing.

_There was a barber and his wife, and she was beautiful…_

_To seek revenge may lead to hell…_

_Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd…_

_And he was naïve…_

_For the rest of us death will be a relief…_

And as he slipped into whatever fate awaited him, he knew it truly was a relief.

* * *

**THE END. **

**Well, a happy ending just seemed unrealistic. This is Sweeney Todd, after all. **

**Thank you, everyone (but especially Cinomarsh) for all your support! I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are appreciated!**


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